Code Pink Journals CodePINK Journals

Work 4 Peace,Hold All Life Sacred,Eliminate Violence! This is my often neglected blog mostly about my travels across country in my mobile billboard truck as I attempt to engage in dialogue with people in hopes to wake us up and inspire action to change our country and communities and selves. And it is froth with my opinions, insights, analyses toward that end of holding all life sacred, dismantling the empire and eliminating violence while creating the society and life we want

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

march 2004 - on the road again!!!

march 2004

take 1
h hi folks!!! I’m on the road again! I didn’t pull outta sunny, warm Oakland until almost 3:00, right before rush hour. it has been fairly quiet this time – leaving California of course, so many yeah’s, peace symbols, I love you’s! then one old white man in a silver American car so new he was still sporting the dealer’s paper in the window, raised knobby arthritic fingers in a crooked ‘fuck you’! Nevada was extremely quiet – where as last time I received at least 6 or 7 fingers, this time only 1!
pulling thru utah early in the chilly grey morning, I got a whopping 8 to 1 positive to negative responses – ufb*! last time in salt lake at the gas station I had to stay alert & calmly leave, the vibes were so bad. this time only nods & cordial faces! huge white snow flakes were falling, maybe blanketing fingers as well as the gound. contributing to the quiet. an old-timer told me incredulously that yesterday it was almost 80 degrees – today it is snowing & in the low 20’s. hard for folks who might believe ‘global warming’ is a liberal conspiracy to explain!
in Wyoming, a car load of uniformed white army boys w/freshly shaved heads all made valiant peace symbols out all four of their windows as they passed me loudly honking & hooting!!! I stopped in Laramie for the nite to join one of my customers who is driving her car cross country. pulling my truck up to a hotel office is always a little apprehensive: this time the hotel clerk turned out to be a gay white boy w/bleached blond hair – tres radical for Wyoming! he loved my truck & immediately reassured me that I was in the most – and only - liberal part of Wyoming. I’ll sleep well this p.m., knowing he’s on duty for the nite!
Before I left Laramie, I found espresso early in the a.m. – organic coffee no less!!! – and connected with a very interesting fellow & comrade, guillermo . he & his wife have been peace activists for over 40 years and in many different countries, including now here in the u.s.. we compared notes on being an out activist & running a business to survive. he is in the landscaping & gardening business & has many signs supporting peace at his location, as do i. we agreed that, although limiting our income, the business we miss is well worth the business we receive! he told me they have at least 3 weekly peace vigils in Laramie!!! and several peace organizations!
I missed an opportunity to park my truck in front of the laramie high school – Guillermo introduced me to a local high school teacher. after she spoke for a few about the exciting social action & political work she was trying to do w/her students, she wistfully said ‘I wish you could park your truck in front of the school for awhile this morning.’ I regret not taking the time to do so, deciding instead I couldn’t delay my delivery in madison. I promised to do so on my next trip thru Laramie!
in evanstan, I stopped at the library to check email. emerging from the library into the parking lot, I noticed a note on my truck which said: “ “ I returned to the library & asked the white wimmin at the counter, who had become silent seeing me re-enter the buildng, as loudly as I dared in a library ‘do you know anyone who might want to talk w/me about my truck & my message?’ they both looked at me blankly as red crept into their cheeks. ‘that truck?’ one of them murmured? ‘we don’t know’ the other said. they looked so uncomfortable & I was on a schedule at this point, I just smiled, gave them each a ‘pink slip bush’ flyer which they took politely, & left.
as I started out of the parking lot and into traffic, I glimpsed a young, maybe 12 year old girl eagerly reading the back of my truck. I couldn’t stop as I was, oddly enuff, in traffic & on a one-way street. I went around the block as quickly as I could – they grow blocks REALLY huge in Wyoming – but when I returned to the parking lot, she was no where in site. I really wanted to give her some reading material & a pin. another missed opportunity. I have to be more aware!

About Me

i'm now a 67, almost 68 (who am I kidding almost fuckin 70!!!) yr old (still with a golden age pass to get into national parks FREE) jewish lesbian anti-racist mother - and grandmother - striving radical womonist/feminist; daughter & granddaughter of survivors of the holocaust, mother of a young amazon healer & amazing human being, lover of wimmin & student of conscious living............even tho i am the one actually driving the truck, i could not even head out from home if it were not for the support of many, many, many wimmin (and several men as well). i am now working on trying to publish my book "But What Can I Do? A Handbook for change: myself, my community, my country. I still continue to offer Racism Awareness workshops geared for White people, NO DRONES workshops, and any other that is needed. if you want to help support this journey, email me!